Interlude

As I was walking to work today, I was listening to my iPod Shuffle when I turned around to see this elderly woman motioning to me. I turned off my iPod and asked her if she needed something. She told me she was locked out of her apartment and asked me if I had a cell phone. I said I did and that I would be glad to let her use it.

She told me she couldn’t hear very well and asked me to call her daughter. She gave me the number but when I tried it, I got a message that the number had been disconnected. She then gave me the number of a friend of hers, and when I tried that number, I also got a message that it was disconnected too. At this point, I went into EMT mode (even though I’m not an EMT, my wife is, so I have a little bit of a clue) and asked her if she could tell me her name. She did. I then asked her if she knew what year it was. After first saying 2010 and 2012, she finally got it right with 2011, and then she told me that she wasn’t crazy.

I finally found out that her friend whom I was supposed to call was the wife of the pastor of a church that was down the street. I got the number of the church from my wife and was able to get ahold of the pastor, who said his wife had a key for the woman’s apartment and that he would call her. She would be there shortly.

After I got back on my way to work, I did call back the pastor to make sure the woman would be all right. He said his wife was supposed to have taken the woman to the store tomorrow, but that she must have gone on her own. Then he told me something that explained everything. Last year he said the woman had been involved in a head-on collision.

This reminds me of a time I was waiting for my husband to pick me up after a doctor’s appointment. An elderly lady was very concerned about when the bus would come and how much it cost. I told her that my husband and I would drive her home. She seemed very relieved. The woman did seem a little “off” but I put that down to age. Anyway, we got her in the car and she could not remember exactly where she lived. I also noticed for the first time a strong smell of alcohol coming off of her. We finally did get her home, but we were getting a touch nervous over the whole thing. Poor dear was a bit tipsy and confused, but I’ve been there in my life too! You are a good man for helping this lady.

A wonderful story, Unfinished. For a moment there I thought it might be your cellphone what was disconnected.
She was very fortunate that she stopped you. Because few people would go into EMT mode like you did.